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May 12 2008
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Elly Roberts reviews
Future Clouds And Radar: Future Clouds And Radar
Distributed by
Star Apple Kingdom Records
Lennon-esque psych-folk – pop, and teeny bit more.
Whilst recuperating in bed for two years from a serious spinal injury five years ago,
Robert Harrison clearly had a musical vision. During his enforced sabbatical,
he conjured the idea of making an album, in this case a double, a bold move for
a debut as FC&R.
Better known as leader of Austin-based cult-reggae-heroes Cotton Mather, Harrison
has veered towards '60s Beatles, and John Lennon in particular. It’s not a covers
album, but an undisputed tribute to Lennon, deliberate or not. We also don’t know
whether there will be a follow-up, which begs the question, what will influence
Harrison next time around?
Vocally, he’s dead-ringer for the ex-Beatle. If there is a Beatles album to be acknowledged
it’s probably the White Album. Not wishing to make a straight ‘copy’, he’s mercurially
thrown in some indigenous nuances, which gravitate towards folk-pop, though not
as off the radar as the likes of Devendra Banhart, for example.
Harrison can do the moody-reflective thing juxtaposed by more accessible pop, with
both styles working splendidly making it a fascinating listen. As with ‘doubles’
there’s a propensity to cram, and use fillers, so there’s the odd track that does
that, which is a minor criticism. Musically, Harrison isn’t scared of throwing
in orchestration, fuzzy guitars, and organ to beef-up the presentation of the songs
which are very well crafted.
Starting with Bird Of Prey, a shifting R&B style ballad with splashes of
brass, its a pretty cool opening, segued by lightweight Beatles-like rocker
Let Me Get Your Coat, whereas Hurricane Judy has more of a
psychedelic twist with wiry guitar solos. Adding a tiniest touch of subtle reggae,
This Really Is A Book could sit nicely next to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.
If there’s a single here, it has to be You Will Be Loved featuring rippling guitar
breaks and strings and catchy chorus, with a massive brass blast mid-way. Out of
the blue arrives Holy Janet... a thumping pop-rocker featuring a scintillating
riff and edgey solos.
Best track of disc 1 is the cute slow shuffle of Green Mountain Clove
featuring some haunting piano work that leads out the song. Ending with a
code-switch, he tries his hand at rockabilly blues, which is out of context,
but refreshing from the rest of the entire album, even if it’s a mere 1 minute
25 seconds.
Going back to the ‘filler’, he needlessly reprises Quicksilver as 2, and further
in Letters To Junius and Cowboy Weather are just pointless. Dirty
power riffs hail Get Your Bootz On, a strikingly ‘original’ composition
with Build Havana bringing on shades of Hall & Oates, except for the
vocal. It’s a great, neat pop song.
More psych-folk returns with the sweeping string arrangement of Malice Of Stars,
and again, Lennon (and even Oasis, who they’ve already supported) isn’t too far
away: no surprises there then. After Altitude he struggles (double album
syndrome creeping in) but picks up form by CD 2s end, with, yep you guessed it,
Beatles-esque Safety Zone.
File under: Interesting, especially for Beatles fans.
See the Amazon link above for the full track listing.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online,
email Elly
or call 07765 862017.
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DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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